Comisky Park project in Mid-City remains in limbo

Construction of a recreation complex at Mid-City's Comiskey Park has stalled at the pile-driving stage, with the California ad agency that sold the city on the project -- and recruited other donors for it -- now reported to be out of the picture.

And there's no word about whether anyone will resurrect a flashy plan for filming a television documentary as a community center rises from the ground just off Jefferson Davis Parkway.

Attorneys for the New Orleans Recreation Department and mayor's Office of Recovery Management have been assigned to figure out the city's options for salvaging the project, which DNA Creative Media and corporate partners pledged they would carry out in less than four months, with improved facilities to be donated to the city.

STAFF PHOTO BY ELIOT KAMENITZConstruction of a recreation complex at Mid-City's Comiskey Park has stalled.

Using actor Louis Gossett Jr. as spokesman, DNA executives joined city officials last August in a brick-laying ceremony at the park, with a quote on Mayor Ray Nagin's brick reading, "Working to Create One New Orleans Together." Gossett was to have hosted a television documentary series about the project called ReNewOrleans.

Asked about the Comiskey Park impasse this week, Nagin said he hadn't gotten an update on the situation: "I know there were some permitting issues that we helped them to get through, and (that) they have very tenuous funding," he said. "They were in jeopardy of losing their funding."

Contractor sues firm

DNA is keeping a low profile these days in New Orleans, where it was hit late last month in federal court with a breach-of-contract lawsuit by the Wisconsin company it hired to build a Comiskey Park facility. The complex was to include an indoor basketball court, kitchen, computer lab and video recording studio.

The lawsuit by Paul Davis National claims that Los Angeles-based DNA still owes the contractor nearly $680,000 but that DNA swore in papers dissolving its Louisiana affiliate corporation in December that it had no debts.

DNA Chief Executive Officer Damon Harman couldn't be reached for comment, despite repeated attempts. But Ruth Pope-Johnston, the former liaison for DNA as it crafted its plan in New Orleans, said she was "absolutely stunned" to hear of the lawsuit.

Pope-Johnston said she had no recent information about the project's status. She said she last spoke with Harman late last year and that she left the liaison job after learning he had told other people that they should talk with him directly.

With improvements to the old neighborhood park already part of the city's post-Katrina plans, there remain hopes that "the project will still happen, (that ) it's still a matter of identifying a new funding (source), someone who can pick up where DNA left off," said Carla Gendusa, legislative aide to Councilwoman Stacy Head, whose district includes the park.

Delays prevent recreation

At a minimum, the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization has signaled it wants the one-square-block playground returned to its state before construction preparations began months ago, so that children can return there, officials said.

At the moment, playing basketball at the park isn't an option because goals have been removed from an open-air covered court.

The missing goals frustrate Comiskey Park coach Anthony Thomas, who had expected the new facility to be up and running by last November.

"This is ridiculous," he said, adding that many parents in the area have told him their kids are playing basketball on the streets and neutral grounds.

On one occasion late last year, according to Gendusa, Harman participated in a conference call initiated by the city's Office of Recovery Management to discuss how the project could be brought to completion.

Then in early January, the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization spoke directly with Harman, and the public relations executive then revealed that his firm had declared bankruptcy -- and that he no longer had any employees, according to Jennifer Weishaupt, president of the Mid-City group. Confirmation from other sources of any bankruptcy filing by Harman's firm wasn't available Tuesday.

'A domino effect'

Explaining DNA's pullout, Weishaupt said, "It is our understanding that there was an issue with one of the sponsors, people who had pledged major money, and when problems happened with that sponsor, it had a domino effect." She said there was "hearsay" about problems with an environmental review and delays in getting city permits, but that she didn't have other concrete information about what happened to the building-and-documentary project. The Nagin administration didn't respond to follow-up questions about the project this week.

When the neighborhood group told Harman it wanted to move forward on the project with other sponsors, Weishaupt said he indicated a willingness to share names and contact information on "people who had expressed interest beyond the initial sponsors."

When the Comiskey Park project was announced with great fanfare last year, national retailer BrandSource was reported to be working with DNA to help cover the cost of erecting a facility covering more than 15,000 square feet.

A representative of BrandSource Chief Executive Officer Bob Lawrence said Tuesday that the company remains a sponsor for the park improvement project. The amount of money the company is providing hasn't been released.

Susan Finch can be reached at sfinch@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3340.